Best Of

Crossroads Brewing Co.

Description:

You know you’re good when you start winning awards before you’re even open for business. Crossroads, the dream-come-true brewpub started by Wappingers Falls native Janine Bennett and her business partner, Kenny Landin, was named the Best Craft Brewery in the Hudson Valley at the TAP New York beer and food festival at Hunter Mountain, three months before it moved into its home — Athens’ former opera house. Crossroads also won a bronze medal for its Outrage IPA — a seven-percent acohol India pale ale — in the category for best individual craft beers in the Hudson Valley, plus it won the John Calen Memorial Award for the best English-style pale ale in the state. “Winning was a huge surprise,” says Bennett. At the time, they were offering growlers of their beer, the work of brewmaster Hutch Kugeman, at a tasting room in Athens. “We were just happy to be at TAP, but the awards were a validation that we are doing the right thing.” That “thing” now includes a line of 10 beers — five regular taps and five seasonal — plus two homemade sodas and six New York State wines. Additionally, they offer a pub-style menu of burgers, wings, and such — much of it made using ingredients from local purveyors. Landin and Bennett met in Queens, where he owned a drywall company; she was a special education teacher, and each wanted to do something else. “We both love craft beer and live music, and we wanted to start fresh,” she says. “We were at a crossroads, which is where we got our name.”